In Der v. Zhao, 2019 BCSC 1996, the defendant
homeowners brought a summary trial application to dismiss the
plaintiff's action arising from an alleged slip and fall on an
icy municipal sidewalk adjacent to the defendants home. The
plaintiff had initially brought the City of Burnaby (the
"City") into the action as another defendant by way of an
Amended Notice of Civil Claim. However, after an examination for
discovery of a representative of the City, the Plaintiff
discontinued his action against it. This was presumably based on
the City's policy decision to adopt a bylaw placing sidewalk
clearing responsibilities on neighboring landowners.
The Plaintiff initially claimed against the defendants under the
Occupiers Liability Act ("OLA") as well
as common law negligence. However, the plaintiff later properly
abandoned his arguments that the defendants were occupiers of the
sidewalk under the OLA and solely based his claim in
negligence, alleging that the defendants,
